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LEAN CONSTRUCTION: KNOWLEDGE AND BARRIERS IN
IMPLEMENTING INTO MALAYSIA CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
VICTOR LIM AIK JIN
A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Science (Construction Management)
Faculty of Civil Engineering
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
NOVEMBER 2008
v
ABSTRACT
Construction industry is a very fragmented industry and reluctant to accept
changes to its current practice because of the belief that construction industry is
completely different in nature resulting in producing high wastage and low
productivity. Hence, improvement methods or philosophy had been developed out to
overcome the above mention problem such as lean construction. Lean Construction
is a philosophy based on the concepts of lean production which is termed on 1990
by Womack. Thus, this research was carried out to identify the level of knowledge
of local practitioners’ and compare the potential barriers in implementation of lean
construction in Industrialised Building System (IBS) and Conventional type of
construction. With the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software
(SPSS 15.0) and Microsoft Excel, data collected from questionnaire surveys were
analysed. In general, local practitioners’ knowledge on lean construction was high,
the only problem was most of them (respondents) do not understand the technical
term of lean construction yet, applying its principles in their work site. Three
potential barriers identified which most of the respondent agreed that it occurred
very frequently on site which is (1) Ineffective management practices (Traditional),
(2) Just-in-time (JIT) delivery of materials on site (IBS) and (3) "Cut and Paste"
from previous project (Traditional and IBS). Statistical test using Wilcoxon Signed-
Rank Test shows significant difference between the potential barriers in Traditional
and IBS type of construction.
vi
ABSTRAK
Industri pembinaan merupakan satu industri yang sangat fragmen dan
keberatan untuk menerima perubahan-perubahan kerana mempercayai industri
pembinaan adalah keseluruhan berbeza, di mana penghasilan pembaziran adalah
ditahap yang tinggi dengan produktiviti yang rendah. Oleh itu, kaedah-kaedah atau
falsafah peningkatan telah dikajikan untuk mengatasi masalah-masalah tersebut
seperti lean construction. Lean Construction adalah satu falsafah yang berdasarkan
konsep lean production yang dinamakan pada 1990 oleh Womack. Justeru,
penyelidikan ini dilaksanakan untuk mengenalpasti tahap pengetahuan pengamal-
pengamal tempatan dan potensi halangan dalam perlaksanaan lean construction di
dalam pembinaan jenis ‘Industrialised Building System’ (IBS) dan tradisional.
Dengan bantuan perisian Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS
15.0) dan Microsoft Excel, data yang telah dikumpul daripada kajian soal selidik
dianalisis. Secara umumnya, pengetahuan pengamal-pengamal tempatan terhadap
lean construction adalah di tahap yang tinggi. Walaubagaimanapun, masalah
umumnya adalah kebanyakan daripada mereka (responden) tidak memahami istilah
teknikal tetapi masih menggunakan prinsip-prinsip lean construction dalam tempat
kerja mereka. Tiga potensi halangan yang sering sangat berlaku telah dikenalpasti
oleh kebanyakan responden di tapak pembinanan iaitu (1) Ineffective management
practice (Traditional), (2) Just-in-time (JIT) delivery of materials on site (IBS) dan
(3) "Cut and Paste" from previous project (Traditional and IBS). Ujian statistik
menggunakan Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test menunjukkan perbezaan signifikan antara
halangan-halangan yang berpotensi diantara jenis pembinaan Traditional dan IBS.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES xii
LIST OF FIGURES xiv
LIST OF CHARTS xv
LIST OF APPENDICES xvi
1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Problem Statements 2
1.2 Aim 4
1.3 Objectives 4
1.4 Scope of Research 5
1.5 Brief Methodology 5
1.6 Report Outline 7
viii
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 History of Lean Production / Manufacturing 9
2.2.1 Just-In-Time (JIT) 13
2.3 Definition 13
2.4 Concept of Lean Production 15
2.4.1 The Seven Forms of Muda 17
2.4.1.1 Defects 18
2.4.1.2 Overproduction 18
2.4.1.3 Conveyance 18
2.4.1.4 Waiting 19
2.4.1.5 Inventory 19
2.4.1.6 Motion 19
2.4.1.7 Overprocessing 19
2.4.2 Lean Production Principles 21
2.4.2.1 Reduce the Share of Non-Adding Value
Activities 21
2.4.2.2 Increase Output Through Systematic
Consideration of Customer Requirement 22
2.4.2.3 Reduce Variability 22
2.4.2.4 Reduce the Cycle Time 23
2.4.2.5 Simplify by Minimizing the Number of
Steps, Parts and Linkages 25
2.4.2.6 Increase Output Flexibility 26
2.4.2.7 Increase Process Transparency 26
2.4.2.8 Focus Control on the Complete Process 27
2.4.2.9 Build Continuous Improvement into the
Process 28
2.4.2.10 Balance Flow Improvement with
Conversion Improvement 29
2.4.2.11 Benchmark 30
2.5 Concept of Lean Construction 31
2.6 Principles of Lean Construction 32
ix
2.6.1 Specify Value 32
2.6.2 Identify and Map the Value Stream 33
2.6.3 Flows 34
2.6.4 Pull 36
2.6.5 Perfection / Continuous Improvement 36
2.6.6 Transparency 37
2.6.7 Process Variability 38
2.7 Case Studies of Implementation of Lean Construction
in United Kingdom 38
2.7.1 Case 1 - Mordernisation of Community Housing,
The Wyre Forest District 40
2.7.1.1 How the CLIP Process Work 40
2.7.1.2 Benefits from CLIP’s Initiative 42
2.7.2 Case 2 - Street Lighting Maintenance Contract
2002-2007 – Hampshire 45
2.7.2.1 How the CLIP Process Work 45
2.7.2.2 Benefits from CLIP’s Initiative 46
2.7.3 Case 3 - Implementing Process Improvements
at a Window and Door Manufacturer 47
2.7.3.1 How the CLIP Process Work 48
2.7.3.2 Benefits from This Initiative 50
2.8 Summary of Chapter 2 52
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 Stage 1 : Literature Review 53
3.3 Stage 2 : Collection of Data 54
3.3.1 Survey Questionnaire 54
3.4 Data Analysis 55
3.4.1 Average Index Analysis (A.I) 55
3.4.2 One-Sample t-Test 57
3.4.3 Chi-Square Test 57
x
3.4.4 Reliability Analysis 58
3.4.5 Cronbach’s Alpha 58
3.4.6 Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test 58
3.5 Summary of Chapter 3 59
4 DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction 60
4.2 Questionnaires Delivered 61
4.3 Demographic of Respondents 62
4.3.1 Response Received 62
4.3.2 Respondents’ Position 63
4.3.3 Respondent’s Qualification 64
4.3.4 Respondent’s Working Experience 65
4.3.5 Respondent’s Location 66
4.4 Level of Knowledge on Lean Construction 67
4.5 Potential Barriers 70
4.5.1 Management Stage Barriers 70
4.5.1.1 Traditional 71
4.5.1.2 IBS 72
4.5.2 Construction Stage Barriers 73
4.5.2.1 Traditional 73
4.5.2.2 IBS 74
4.5.3 Design Stage Barriers 75
4.5.3.1 Traditional 75
4.5.3.2 IBS 76
4.6 Summary of Chapter 4 77
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Introduction 78
5.2 Level of Knowledge on Lean Construction 79
5.2.1 One Sample t-Test 81
xi
5.2.2 Realistic of Data (Chi-Square Test) 81
5.2.3 Reliability Statistics (Reliability Test) 84
5.2.4 Ranked Principles 84
5.2.5 Level of Knowledge on Lean Construction 85
5.3 Potential Barriers 88
5.3.1 Traditional Type of Construction 88
5.3.1.1 One Sample t-Test 88
5.3.1.2 Realistic of Data (Chi-Square Test) 88
5.3.1.3 Reliability Statistics (Reliability Test) 91
5.3.1.4 Ranked Principles 91
5.3.2 IBS Type of Construction 92
5.3.2.1 One Sample t-Test 93
5.3.2.2 Realistic of Data (Chi-Square Test) 93
5.3.2.3 Reliability Statistics (Reliability Test) 96
5.3.2.4 Ranked Principles 96
5.3.3 Potential Barriers in Implementing Lean
Construction in Malaysian Construction Industry 97
5.3.4 Comparison between IBS and Traditional 100
5.3.4.1 Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test 100
5.4 Summary of Chapter 5 101
6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Introduction 102
6.2 Aim and Objectives Revisit 102
6.3 Evaluation on Objectives and Aim of the Study 103
6.3.1 Objective No. 1 103
6.3.2 Objective No. 2 104
6.3.3 Objective No. 3 104
6.4 Limitation of Studies 105
6.4.1 Time Limitation 105
6.4.2 Cost Limitation 106
6.4.3 Area of Coverage Limitation 106
xii
6.5 Recommendations 106
6.5.1 Recommendations Based on Findings 107
6.5.2 Recommendations for Further Research
Studies 108
REFERENCES 109
APPENDICES 115
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
Construction and manufacturing differ significantly in the physical features
of the end product. In manufacturing, finished goods generally can be moved as a
whole to retailers or end customers. Construction, on the other hand, deals with
larger units that cannot be transported.
Construction industry is very unique and complex due to the involvement of
many parties and consumption of varieties of resources. According to Ballard &
Howell (1998), construction covers a spectrum ranging from slow, certain, and
simple project to quick, uncertain and complex project.
Meanwhile, Koskela (1992) stated that construction is unique in the sense of
it is one-of kind nature of projects, site production and temporary multi-
organization. However, failure of establishing a good management system in
construction project will lead to many problems that would cause cost of project
increases, late completion of project and low quality which finally reduce the profit
2
of the contractor. In order to overcome this problems, lean thinking or lean
construction is been introduced in this construction sector.
According to Howell (1999), lean construction is one of the new
philosophies that been implemented by Toyota in their manufacturing process which
now applied to the construction industry in order to smoothen the construction
project and increase the contractor’s profit by eliminating waste. This supported by
Ballard and Howell (1998) whom also stated the same facts that lean thinking in
construction concerned in waste reduction.
Lean construction project is very different compared to traditional
construction project management where Lean approach aims to maximize
performance for the customer at the project level, set well-defined objective clearly
for delivery process, design concurrent product and process and applies production
control throughout the life of project (Howell, 1999).
Generally, lean approach breaks the construction project to smaller parts of
activities which will be defined clearly the start and end date for completion of each
activity with an appointed person to keep on monitoring the all the activities to be
completed according schedule.
1.1 Problem Statement
Lean thinking or Toyota Production System (TPS) had been developed
between 1948 and 1975 created by the founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, his son
Kiichiro Toyoda, and the engineer Taiichi Ohno (Wikipedia, 2008). Although, it
produced way back on the seventies meant for the manufacturing industry, the
3
United Kingdom and America construction industry is picking up this method in the
early nineties (Howell, 1999).
According to Murman et al., (2002), lean production or manufacturing
concept comprises a variety of production systems that share certain principles,
including waste minimization, responsiveness to change, just-in-time, effective
relationships within the value stream, continuous improvement, and quality from the
beginning. Lean concepts have been brought to the construction industries of
Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Peru, Singapore, USA and Venezuela
(Ballard and Howell, 2003).
According to Ibrahim and Ong (2003), construction is known as a very
reluctant industry to accept changes to its current practice because of the belief that
construction industry is completely different in nature. However, with the problems
that industry inherits such as lack of focus to customers, lack of quality, adversarial
relationship among team members, inefficient project communication and project
delay force the industry to reconsider its current practice.
The author found out that Ong (2002) had done his research related to this
topic. His scope covers the readiness of companies’ in implementing lean production
in local construction industry and methods on improving the construction based on
lean production principles. Hence, the author will further his research into level of
local construction practitioners’ knowledge on lean construction in the industry and
potential barriers in implementation of lean construction.
Due to lack of information on our local construction industry related to this
topic, the author had done some preliminaries interview with some of the
professionals in the industry and found out that the level of application of lean
construction is very minimal because it is still new to the industry and the
knowledge on lean concept among practitioners is still minimal.
4
The author had identified preliminaries barriers in implementing lean
construction from the preliminaries interview. Quoting from one of the respondent,
the major barrier in implementing lean construction is that “there is no solid proof of
what lean construction can contribute any benefits to the project” and “besok, lusa”
attitude or ‘see first’ attitude from the local practitioners. Thus, the author had
initiated to investigate the knowledge and potential barriers of lean construction in
implementing in Malaysia construction industry.
1.2 Aim
The aim that initiated this research is to investigate the application of lean
construction into Malaysia construction industry.
1.3 Objectives
1. To study the concept of lean construction and how it is being implied in the
local construction industry
2. To identify the level of knowledge on lean concept among professionals
involved in Industrialised Building System (IBS) and Conventional type of
construction
3. To identify and compare the potential barriers in implementation of lean
construction in IBS and Conventional type of construction
5
1.4 Scope of Research
The scope of this research is focus on reviewing the local construction
industry in implementing lean construction. Emphasis is given to identify the level
of knowledge and potential barriers of construction parties in implementing lean
construction.
The limitation of this research is this research is only conducted in Malaysia,
the trustworthy of the respondent in responding the questionnaire, and the local
construction industry information in lean construction. There are no case studies or
actual documentation of lean construction being implemented in the local
construction industry which will provide a better and concrete result. Therefore, the
author had approach a UK based company practicing lean construction in referring
to its passed completed project which the information given by them is not complete
will be discussed in the later chapter.
1.5 Brief Methodology
In carrying out this research, right methodology is required to enable the
compilation of data and information from various sources. Three stages are involved
which are literature review, collection of data and lastly conclusion and
recommendation (Refer to Figure 1.1).
Firstly, is to collect of information and data such as books, journals, and
internet related to the term ‘lean’. Then, questionnaires are to be send to selected
companies to be responded and return back to the author. Interview will also be
conducted with some professional in the local industry. Data analysis will be
6
conducted by using qualitative methods through the collected reading materials and
secondary data generated from the questionnaire. Lastly, recommendations are
proposed to boost up the usage of lean construction in the local construction context.
Figure 1.1: Flow chart of research methodology
Literature Review
Collection of information and data such as books, journals, and internet related to the term ‘lean’
Collection of Data
Collection of data through questionnaires
Conclusion and Recommendation
Questionnaire Survey
Analysis of Data
Analysis of data using quantitative method
Research Findings
First Stage
Second Stage
Third Stage
109
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